Boston attacks and MIT incident updates

Claude Moniquet

19 April 2013

Here is the last “state of the play” of the Boston attack investigation and the MIT Incident.

- Thursday night, in a very short press conference, FBI Special Agent in charge (SAC) Richard DesLauriers uncovered videos of two men considered as “suspects” (and not “persons of interests”) in Monday’s terrorist attacks.

- The two men seem to be of “Caucasian type” and in their 20’s to early 30’s.

- SAC DesLauriers said the men must be considered “armed and extremely dangerous”.

- A few hours later, a violent incident took place in or near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge, near Boston.

- They are conflicting reports and it still unclear how the incident began.It seems that a police officer responding to a call related to a hijacking in or near the MIT campus was shot dead when arriving on the place.

- A manhunt followed the incident and ended in Watertown, near Laurel and Dexter streets, where dozens of police officers confronted to young men in a dramatic and chaotic standoff.

- It seems that the two men, taking cover behind a black Mercedes SUV, were wearing backpacks. Dozens of shots were fired and sources say that “explosives” were used against the police.

- At least one of the suspects was caught and media video showed him completely naked (obviously to ensure that he was not wearing explosive belt or other explosives or arms) and handcuffed embarked in a patrol car. He was rushed to an hospital.

- The second men got back in the SUV, broke the police cordon and left the scene.

- At 08:00 AM GMT (04:00 local), it seems that the second suspect is still at large: police asked residents to say at home and no approach windows as a large police operation was going on. The police will search “door by door” and residents are told not to open to others that clearly identified police officers.

- FBI, State Police and Boston Police Department are working to establish if there is a link between the “MIT incident” and Monday’s attacks.

- Various media sources named the two suspects but, due to the erratic reporting, the ongoing incident and the conflicting news, we prefer not to name them for the moment.

- At 08:30 GMT, media report that the arrested suspects died in hospital. The second one is still on the run.